The Police will be charging a 46-year-old man, a security officer, on 9 April 2024 for his involvement in a case of alleged bomb threat.
On 5 January 2024 at 8.22am, the Police responded to a call where a suspicious item suspected to be an Improvised Explosive Device (“IED”) was found at 32 Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2. Police officers conducted security checks and the item was later established to be a fake IED and of no security threat.
The suspicious item was allegedly left behind as part of a Red-Teaming exercise conducted by a security company. Poor management of the exercise resulted in the activation of actual police resources to the scene and more than 100 people were inconvenienced as they were prevented from entering the premises due to the ongoing checks.
Investigations revealed that the man, who was a security officer on night shift, was purportedly not at the guardhouse when the exercise was being conducted in the early hours of 5 January 2024. He had received a call from the Red-Teaming team at about 4.30am on 5 January 2024 to dispose the fake IED but had forgotten to do so. In addition, the man had informed the Police that he was away for a short period to buy food near the site. However, CCTV footage showed that he was not present for guardhouse duty for more than five hours between 4 to 5 January 2024. He also admitted to providing false entries in the guardhouse occurrence book to cover up his absence.
The man will be charged in court on 9 April 2024 with:
- The offence of causing alarm under Section 4(2) of Protection from Harassment Act 2014, which carries a fine of up to $5,000;
- The offence of absence from security officer duty without valid reasons under Reg 7A(1)(c) of the Private Security Industry (Conduct) Regulations 2009, which carries a fine of up to $2,000 or an imprisonment term of up to 3 months or with both;
- The offence of furnishing false information to Public Servant under Section 177(1)(a) of Penal Code 1871, which carries an imprisonment term of up to 6 months or with fine of up to $5,000 or with both; and
- The offence of falsification of accounts under Section 477A of Penal Code 1871, which carries an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, or with fine or with both.
The Police treat all security threats seriously and will not hesitate to take action against anyone who causes public alarm due to their negligence. Beyond the fear and inconvenience caused to other members of the public, it comes at a cost of public resources that have to be deployed to deal with the incident.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
08 April 2024 @ 1:30 PM